Let’s find out about Batteries through this list of TED talks. The title and the description are taken from the videos.
Batteries are a triumph of science—they allow smartphones and other technologies to exist without anchoring us to an infernal tangle of power cables. Yet even the best batteries will diminish daily, slowly losing capacity until they finally die. Why does this happen, and how do our batteries even store so much charge in the first place? Adam Jacobson gives the basics on batteries. Lesson by Adam Jacobson, animation by FOX Animation Domination High-Def.
2. Why your phone battery gets worse over time – George Zaidan
Explore the science of why single-use and rechargeable batteries die, and find out why recycling batteries can be challenging. — Almost all batteries, even single-use batteries, are theoretically rechargeable. That’s because the metals and other chemicals are still there in the battery.
So chemically speaking, a dead battery is actually not that different from a fresh one. Then why do batteries die in the first place? And what should you do with them once they’re spent? George Zaidan digs into the science of batteries. Lesson by George Zaidan, directed by Luisa Holanda. This video made possible in collaboration with Speed & Scale.
3. Can a Simple Brick Be the Next Great Battery? – John O’Donnell
The world relies on manufacturing, and manufacturing relies on heat — a massive contributor to global carbon emissions, responsible for a quarter of the world’s fossil fuel use. Energy entrepreneur John O’Donnell has figured out a better, cleaner way to generate the heat we need to make the stuff we want. Learn how his team turned simple bricks and iron wire into a powerful, unconventional “heat battery” that could deliver industrial heat at scale without the emissions — and why he thinks electrified industrial heat is the next trillion-dollar industry.
4. The Powerful Possibilities of Recycling the World’s Batteries – Emma Nehrenheim
The world has plenty of clean energy. The problem is storing that energy and getting it where we need it, when we need it, says battery recycling pioneer Emma Nehrenheim. While batteries are fundamental to powering a sustainable future, their production is surprisingly harsh on the environment. She lays out the science behind a breakthrough in recycling a battery’s core elements, offering a manufacturing solution that could vastly reduce the industry’s environmental impact and demand for new materials from mining.
5. How scientists turn lakes into giant batteries
Discover the world’s biggest battery and explore how inventors are creating other giant batteries to help power the world— sustainably. — As of 2020, the world’s biggest lithium-ion battery is hooked up to the Southern California power grid and can provide enough power for about 250,000 homes. But it’s actually not the biggest battery in the world: a pair of lakes are.
How can lakes be a battery? Explore how inventors are rethinking what a battery can be, and how these surprising solutions could help us achieve a sustainable future. Directed by Lisa LaBracio. Animation and art direction by Luísa M H Copetti & Hype CG. In partnership with Bill Gates, inspired by his book “How To Avoid A Climate Disaster”.
6. How can we make better batteries? – Dr. Shirley Meng
Dr. Shirley Meng makes the case for hope by demonstrating some of the exciting technologies and new batteries her lab is developing that could close the energy storage gap we need to create a democratization of energy that also enables a fully renewable energy grid.
7. Developing the battery of the future | Jubin Varghese
Young entrepreneur, Jubin Varghese, shares how his engineering college project of developing an electric vehicle for Indian roads, led him to eventually create a patented, hybrid super-capacitor based battery that is quick charging, low cost, has high energy density and promises to be a game changer for clean affordable energy.
8. Making Batteries Better – Jeff Dahn
Jeff Dahn has won countless award for his work on batteries. His talk highlights some of his research experience. Dahn has received National and International awards including: International Battery Materials Association (IBA) Research Award (1995); Herz- berg Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists (awarded to a physicist under 40 years old for career achievement – 1996); Battery Division Research Award (The Electrochemical Society – 1996); Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2001); The Electrochemical Award [Canadian Section of the Electrochemical Society – awarded once every 4 years for career achievement] (2006); Medal for Excellence in Teaching (2009) from the Canadian Assoc. of Physicists and the “Technology Award” from the ECS Battery Division in 2011.